And the boys' mother was hit by a bathroom fixture while taking a shower.

All the result of a Worcester Regional Transit Authority bus barreling through their house around dinnertime Monday.

Miraculously, the woman and her three sons weren't seriously hurt. But the house is a total loss and will have to be demolished.

With an "Inner Strength" tattoo inscribed on her left shoulder and a few tears weltering up in her eyes, Laura Erickson is thankful, thankful that she and her three boys came out of this ordeal alive.

"I was on Facebook and there was this story about people who didn't believe in God and Jesus, different people who said these things and they died within a week or two after they said they didn't believe in God. And they said share this and you will have a miracle the next day," Mrs. Erickson said. "So I shared it. It's on my page on Facebook and within two hours this happened. I couldn't believe it. That was my miracle right there."

Police Chief Andrew J. Sluckis Jr. said that around 5 p.m. Monday, the bus was heading west on Swanson Road, toward the Auburn Mall, when it left the road, cut across a yard at the corner of Homestead Avenue and smashed into the house.

Chief Sluckis said it appeared the brakes were not applied; he said the driver may have suffered some sort of medical problem before the crash, or there may have been a mechanical problem with the brakes. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Leonard Erickson of Webster owns the home on 24 Swanson Road. His son, Christopher Erickson (who wasn't at home at the time of the bus crash), his wife, Laura Erickson, and their three sons, Austin, 14, Tyler, 11, and Kaden, 6, live at the home.

Five minutes before the bus barreled through their home, Mrs. Erickson and her three boys were cooling off in their above-ground pool in the backyard. Mrs. Erickson had to get ready for work, so she made her boys get out of the pool and she hopped into the shower for her 6 p.m. shift. Her husband was en route home.

"I was in a shower. You know, showers are supposed to be relaxing," Mrs. Erickson said. "I got knocked out. … Everything from the medicine cabinet came out. The shelf from behind the toilet was in the shower and the toilet was half in the shower. … When I came to, I was on the shower floor with something on me. The kids. I was freaking out. The kids. And I just pushed it off me and could barely open the door because everything's moved."

"Austin was in the kitchen and he was sitting at the table and the bus came right through the wall and pushed the refrigerator right on him," Leonard Erickson said. "So he pushed the refrigerator away the best he could to get out."

Tyler and Kaden were in the living room watching television at the time the bus hit, Leonard Erickson said. Something came crashing down on Tyler and hit him in the head.

Mrs. Erickson opened the bathroom door and saw Austin first. He was in shock by what just happened, she said. Then she saw the bus through her kitchen and her two other boys in the living room and glass everywhere.

"I saw the bus so I thought something might explode. That was movie material, so it's going to explode next," she said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Mrs. Erickson said she got everybody out the front door even though the cement front steps were nowhere near the outer doorway and she started screaming at the top of her lungs, like a horror flick, she said. She screamed so much that her throat hurt.

"It looks like a tornado hit," she said. "There are pieces of the stove in my bedroom. It's just crazy. When it hit, everything jolted."

Mrs. Erickson, who was bleeding badly from her left foot (and ended up needing 11 stitches to close her wound), was going to go back in the house to check on the people in the bus, but the boys were so scared she couldn't leave them behind.

"My foot was bubbling blood. It was just pouring out everywhere," she said. "And I didn't feel anything at the moment."

Then there was the small matter of the family pet, Snickers, who was left inside.

"When they took the boys to the other side, I realized I still had my dog in there," she said. "I kept yelling for someone to get my dog but no one would listen, of course. So I crept in the front door and walked around the house and found my dog upstairs in the bed shaking."

Mrs. Erickson said there were plants everywhere in the house and her 6-year-old Kaden was covered from head to toe in dirt from one of the house plants. He only suffered a little scratch on his foot, his mother said, while Austin needed six stitches to his foot.

John Carney, general manager of RTA Transit Services, said Mr. Artey suffered broken bones in his leg and the four passengers are all doing well.

"Given the condition of the bus when I saw it, I'm ecstatic about the fact that he (Mr. Artey) got something that can be put in a cast," Mr. Carney said. "We are so thankful. You have a 16-ton vehicle hitting a house probably going over 35, 40 miles-per-hour and knocking it 10 feet off the foundation, It would have been so easy to have a fatality in this accident."

Mr. Carney said Mr. Artey has been employed by RTA Transit Services for about 14 months, has "significant experience" as a school bus driver and an "excellent" driving record. According to his driving history at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, Mr. Artey had a surchargeable accident in December 2010 in Worcester and a minor traffic accident in March 2009, also in Worcester.

Mr. Carney said a black box was on the bus and the information will be accessed.

"With our new technology, we have the capability of measuring the speed at every millisecond from point A to point B as long as the box wasn't damaged; and it will also show breaking points," Mr. Carney said. "It will tell you if the brakes were applied or if they weren't applied."

Mr. Carney expressed his heartfelt apologies and concerns to of all the injured parties involved.

Mel Erickson, who is Christopher Erickson's uncle, said he's glad no one was seriously hurt — but pretty sad to see the house wrecked, a house that four generations of Ericksons have lived in.

"My father built this house from the foundation up. We finished it in '49," Mel Erickson said. "I lugged rocks with my father to build this foundation. I was 8 years old."

Although they are all out of the hospital, Mrs. Erickson said her three boys are completely traumatized by the ordeal.

"They (the three boys) walked out of the hospital and saw a bus and started shaking," she said. "I couldn't sleep last night ... even my husband who wasn't here. The air conditioning in the hotel room made a loud noise and he hopped right up."